American companies are facing yet another hurdle: many of them have post-employment health plans that are underfunded, even more so than pension plans. In this telling New York Times article, the cost of post-retirement health care coverage is revealed, and it’s $284-billion bill is proving to be more than many companies can handle.
Companies that offer such health coverage--they make up only 5 percent of U.S. companies--are typically large companies like Ford Motor, I.B.M. and Merck that have stocks held by investors. As written in the article, "Funding for these plans is an abysmally low 13.2 percent ... By comparison, pension obligations at these companies are 65.6 percent funded." And what’s worse--the health care liability is still increasing.
As the population continues to age, the corporations will have to figure out how to pay for the bill, or it will become another burden to taxpayers.
New York Times December 14, 2003
Health care costs continue to rise, and the companies that agreed to pay for post-retirement health care coverage are now being faced with an ever-increasing bill. This is a potential economic catastrophe that can clearly wake these major corporations up. They will be looking for some hard answers to save costs and keep people healthy. What will soon become clear is that modern medicine does not have these answers, but natural medicine certainly does.
If you are one of the millions of people who are not satisfied with the state of health care in the United States today, I encourage you to take control of your own health now. One simple step you can take that will dramatically improve your health, guaranteed, and set you free from the restraints of traditional health care is to read my new book. What’s more is that all my profits from this book will go the new non-profit health association I co-founded with some other major and positively focused health organizations. This non-profit association--whose name is in the deciding stage--will finally shift healthcare in the United States and beyond to a system truly focused on real prevention and cure, not the current pharmaceutical model focused on mere treatments.
I also encourage you to find out about a worthwhile alternative to health insurance--a medical savings account.
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